Aggressive deer hunting tatics
- Tadmdad
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
Forgot about this post
Dan... thanks for posting about stacking and bump and dump. I have a better understanding now of both of these tactics. I can understand how knowing the land would be very important using either one of these tactics. And how a buck will react when they are used, part of the chess match we play as hunters.
But I'm thinking how either one of these tactics could be employed in the northwoods where we hunt? Not sure how sucessful they would be, being the northwoods bucks pretty much have a zero tolerance for human intrusion.
And probably would just disappear for the rest of the season.
Thougts? or maybe area specific tactics?
Dan... thanks for posting about stacking and bump and dump. I have a better understanding now of both of these tactics. I can understand how knowing the land would be very important using either one of these tactics. And how a buck will react when they are used, part of the chess match we play as hunters.
But I'm thinking how either one of these tactics could be employed in the northwoods where we hunt? Not sure how sucessful they would be, being the northwoods bucks pretty much have a zero tolerance for human intrusion.
And probably would just disappear for the rest of the season.
Thougts? or maybe area specific tactics?
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
Not sure Tad... I have not used those tactics in the north woods. They have worked well in farm land, swamps, and marshes.
I suspect it would work in big woods, but not as well, and you would need to really have a grasp on deer bedding in that area. Hard to do on those travel hunt areas, easier in ones back yard hunting area...
I suspect it would work in big woods, but not as well, and you would need to really have a grasp on deer bedding in that area. Hard to do on those travel hunt areas, easier in ones back yard hunting area...
- virginiashadow
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
Really cool post. I really wish I was going to have more time to hunt this fall. I am finally making up some ground on how to hunt the better bucks. BUT, I will have limited time to hunt this fall due to a new job. I will really miss the learning aspect. However, I will not throw in the towel. Something is going to take a dirt nap this season as he leaves his bed.
- Dewey
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
virginiashadow wrote: Something is going to take a dirt nap this season as he leaves his bed.
I like your positive attitude! Great things can happen if you are confident about what you are doing.
- Tadmdad
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
dan wrote:Not sure Tad... I have not used those tactics in the north woods. They have worked well in farm land, swamps, and marshes.
I suspect it would work in big woods, but not as well, and you would need to really have a grasp on deer bedding in that area. Hard to do on those travel hunt areas, easier in ones back yard hunting area...
Agreed Dan....traveling hunts have the disadvantage of not having as much time to scout during offseason. Many times I've bumped bucks from beds while stillhunting or tracking and I've went back to set a stand on that particular bed without success that season, it seems like when the buck is bumped he just vacates the area for the rest of that season. But we can go back the following season and have success, and several bedding areas we've been able to kill multiple bucks over the years, seems like those good beds have all the right ingrediants, when a buck is killed another decent buck fills the void.
When your stacking, it's your intent to move a buck from one bedding area to another known bedding area, and to be setup there. How is this determined? do you soft bump in the offseason and follow his travel route? or is it just knowledge of the deer travel patterns and bedding areas from scouting? or is it that your trying to move a buck from a bedding area thats difficult to approach or hunt without being detected, to a more accessible spot?
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
I have done this in the snow, but mainly to gain knowledge of the bedding area locations and escape roughts of land I don't know well, or to confirm hunches.do you soft bump in the offseason and follow his travel route?
Knoledge of the bedding areas is the biggest key... It would be pretty tough to learn every bedding area in your area, but by finding the primary bedding and the best buck bedding you start to get a feel for where the oldest bucks want to bed. This can take a few years to learn... The marsh behind my house, and a few other places I hunt on a regular basis, I know the preffered buck beds pretty well, so a little push sometimes will help to put them right where I want them. Sometimes, as I am sure you realize, it backfires.or is it just knowledge of the deer travel patterns and bedding areas from scouting?
One big advatage I have over your area is that my deer are more confined by roads and delelopment. The bucks bumped back in the marsh generally stay in the marsh and don't cross the road to leave because of a soft bump... Big woods he can go as far as he wants...
I generally push the areas I can't hardly hunt cause the buck has the huge advatage do to bed placment. Otherwise I save stacking for just before gun season, just before the end of the season, or just brefore leaving the area. This ups my odds on the last few sits.
There is also stacking by others such as opening day of phesant season, duck season, gun season, etc... If you know how the deer will react to this pressure, and where they will bed, sometimes more pressure on an area can make it easier for you to find the big bucks...
I think all of us use stacking to some degree and this is not something that I or Andrae invented, we just coined the term and look at it a little differently than most.
- Tadmdad
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
quote] I have done this in the snow, but mainly to gain knowledge of the bedding area locations and escape roughts of land I don't know well, or to confirm hunches.
Understand....usually do this when we get a fresh snow when hunting, always spend time tracking with a fresh snow, although really not quiet enough to slip up on a particular buck and kill him out of his bed, one of my hunting buddies is really good at that, but he has alot of patience and practice with that over the years. More use tracking to become more knowledgable with a bucks habitats and travel patterns to setup future hunts.
Think this is really sound advice for guys that are hunting higher pressure hunting areas. Years ago when I spent most of my time hunting the U.P. and S.MI, probably spent most of my scouting time determining other hunters patterns and travel routes and understanding how the deer would react to that pressure, and where they would go, and being there hours before other guys entered the woods. Made it even easier when the other hunters where sitting on a baitpile, patterns were easy to establish, hunters and deer.
Understand....usually do this when we get a fresh snow when hunting, always spend time tracking with a fresh snow, although really not quiet enough to slip up on a particular buck and kill him out of his bed, one of my hunting buddies is really good at that, but he has alot of patience and practice with that over the years. More use tracking to become more knowledgable with a bucks habitats and travel patterns to setup future hunts.
There is also stacking by others such as opening day of phesant season, duck season, gun season, etc... If you know how the deer will react to this pressure, and where they will bed, sometimes more pressure on an area can make it easier for you to find the big bucks...[/quote]One big advatage I have over your area is that my deer are more confined by roads and delelopment. The bucks bumped back in the marsh generally stay in the marsh and don't cross the road to leave because of a soft bump... Big woods he can go as far as he wants...
Agreed...most of the time a buck has got to many options to escape and will travel a long ways before he slows down, and won't return for the rest of the season. I guess we use a variation of stacking when we do a nudge hunt, but we usually wait till the end of the hunt to attempt this tactic. But the intent is to kill that buck when he uses a escape route after being soft bumped.
Think this is really sound advice for guys that are hunting higher pressure hunting areas. Years ago when I spent most of my time hunting the U.P. and S.MI, probably spent most of my scouting time determining other hunters patterns and travel routes and understanding how the deer would react to that pressure, and where they would go, and being there hours before other guys entered the woods. Made it even easier when the other hunters where sitting on a baitpile, patterns were easy to establish, hunters and deer.
- magicman54494
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
In the north woods of Wis and Minn.
When I kick up a buck I'm tracking they tend to head into the thick swamps and bed down. If you don't chase them they don't usually go more than 1/4 mile. They don't go to "a" bed. They bed randomly in the thick stuff. Kinda like a quick fix to get somewhere safe. I believe they know where they are going. If given time they may relocate to a secondary bedding site nearby but I can't prove or disprove this. I'm not sure how well stacking would work. I think bumping those bucks would only make hunting them more difficult. If pressured too much I believe they will just relocate to a new area. Then it's more like Dan's description: "Bump and never see them again"
When I kick up a buck I'm tracking they tend to head into the thick swamps and bed down. If you don't chase them they don't usually go more than 1/4 mile. They don't go to "a" bed. They bed randomly in the thick stuff. Kinda like a quick fix to get somewhere safe. I believe they know where they are going. If given time they may relocate to a secondary bedding site nearby but I can't prove or disprove this. I'm not sure how well stacking would work. I think bumping those bucks would only make hunting them more difficult. If pressured too much I believe they will just relocate to a new area. Then it's more like Dan's description: "Bump and never see them again"
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- Tadmdad
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
Magic, you make some interesting points. I'd guess most of the time when tracking I'm trying to determine the bucks travel habits. Usually when that buck is bumped he's heard, seen or smelled me coming before I arrived and recognized I'm human, and it's the "bump and never see them again". But my intent is to setup a future hunt, so I'll spend some time studying the area trying to determine why he bedded there, observe what he can see from the bed, and how to approach that bed for a future hunt. My buddy and a couple of other guys I've hunted with, they go into what I call "creep mode" when they think there close to a bedded buck, there intent is to kill that buck while he's bedded, I've just never been that good at it, just to darn noisy.
I can remeber several bucks that I bumped out of heavy cover that didn't go to far after bumped, when I followed up the track after a period of time, they were bedded back down, but they were watching there backtrail and seen me coming, then it was "bump and never see them again". No way to prove or disprove this, but it's my belief that when they don't identify the threat to begin with they don't go to far until they determine the threat, and watch their backtrail, and it might be a conditioned responce for evading wolves.
When you soft bump a buck, what's your next tactic? Do you backoff and follow after a period of time? Do you circle in front of the buck and backtrack? Do you come back in a day or two and try a setup? In the northwoods is just difficult to predict what their going to do, they have to much country and many options.
I can remeber several bucks that I bumped out of heavy cover that didn't go to far after bumped, when I followed up the track after a period of time, they were bedded back down, but they were watching there backtrail and seen me coming, then it was "bump and never see them again". No way to prove or disprove this, but it's my belief that when they don't identify the threat to begin with they don't go to far until they determine the threat, and watch their backtrail, and it might be a conditioned responce for evading wolves.
When you soft bump a buck, what's your next tactic? Do you backoff and follow after a period of time? Do you circle in front of the buck and backtrack? Do you come back in a day or two and try a setup? In the northwoods is just difficult to predict what their going to do, they have to much country and many options.
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
I have not done a lot of big woods tracking. Magic certainly has me beat in that regard, but what tracking I have done, most of the time the 1st bump they go a short distance, the second bump they realize they are being followed and its "game on" they go a long ways...
- magicman54494
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
Tadmdad wrote: When you soft bump a buck, what's your next tactic? Do you backoff and follow after a period of time? Do you circle in front of the buck and backtrack? Do you come back in a day or two and try a setup? In the northwoods is just difficult to predict what their going to do, they have to much country and many options.
When I'm tracking I intend to kill him so I stay right on him. I am experimenting with a method that Hal Blood uses and that is to wait at least 1/2 hour before going after him. I have 3 years under my belt so I'm still in the learning process but I have killed 3 by tracking so I'm doing something right.
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- Tadmdad
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
magicman54494 wrote:Tadmdad wrote: When you soft bump a buck, what's your next tactic? Do you backoff and follow after a period of time? Do you circle in front of the buck and backtrack? Do you come back in a day or two and try a setup? In the northwoods is just difficult to predict what their going to do, they have to much country and many options.
When I'm tracking I intend to kill him so I stay right on him. I am experimenting with a method that Hal Blood uses and that is to wait at least 1/2 hour before going after him. I have 3 years under my belt so I'm still in the learning process but I have killed 3 by tracking so I'm doing something right.
Understand...I think tracking is one of the most difficult styles of hunting to master but I guess it's just like anything else, you experiment and learn from success and failure. It certainly is a learning experience following a buck, and looking at things from what he sees.
A tactic that my buddy Mark and I use, guess would be a variation of stacking or a 2 man deer drive, we'll work a area stillhunting paralell to each other usually 1/2-1 mile apart in a pre-determined direction and try to bump deer to one another, will keep in contact using radios and when we bump a deer to put each other on alert. We used this one afternoon some years ago and killed 3 pretty decent bucks, made a late night of getting deer out of the woods.
- headgear
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
Here is an aggressive bigwoods tactic my neighbors have used a couple times with success, let me know what you guys think about it. It basically a mix of tracking and driving, when they cut a nice sized track that appears very fresh they send one guy on the track right away and post the other guy right where they found the track. The whole idea is the deer when tracked will sometimes do a big loop and head back they way they came. Now this has only worked two times that I know of so I am not sure if they just got lucky or if they are onto something. I also know the buck they got one year was with group of does so this might be something that is more effective when a buck has company vs when he is alone.
- Tadmdad
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Re: Agressive deer hunting tatics
headgear wrote:Here is an aggressive bigwoods tactic my neighbors have used a couple times with success, let me know what you guys think about it. It basically a mix of tracking and driving, when they cut a nice sized track that appears very fresh they send one guy on the track right away and post the other guy right where they found the track. The whole idea is the deer when tracked will sometimes do a big loop and head back they way they came. Now this has only worked two times that I know of so I am not sure if they just got lucky or if they are onto something. I also know the buck they got one year was with group of does so this might be something that is more effective when a buck has company vs when he is alone.
Interesting tactic, never used that before but could see how it would work. I can think of several times tracking a buck that they have done a big circle, remember thinking that I was on a rabbit hunt, and I was the hound. Not sure why a buck does that, if he just comfortable in his home range or that is something a deer does to evade predators, or some other reason.
The afternoon hunt I posted earlier, was similar to this in the respect that we tracked several deer that day, and when one of us was on the track the other guy was trying to keep out in front of the buck, we used the radios to communicate directions and trying to anticipate where the buck was headed.
I'm certain one 8pt that Mark shot was a buck I was tracking, when I heard him shoot I tracked the buck right to where he was dead. The other 2, really not sure where they came from, it was chasing phase of the rut, and the 2 bucks were moving when we shot them, were they moving on there own, was it a buck we bumped, I really don't know.
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